Matthew Prescott - Food is the Solution

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For my sister, Hillaryfor opening my eyes and starting me on my path

For my mother, Janetfor my senses of service and justice

For my wife, Larafor everything else in my world

To ask the biggest questions, we can start with the personal: what do we eat? What we eat is within our control, yet the act ties us to the economic, political and ecological order of our whole planet. Even an apparently small changeconsciously choosing a diet that is good for both our bodies and the earthcan lead to a series of choices that transform our whole lives.

FRANCES MOORE LAPP, DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET

In 2012, my wife, Suzy, and I adopted a plant-based diet. Many people come to plant-based eating through health issuesmaybe theyre facing a quadruple bypass, or want their family to eat better. For us, it was all about sustainability.

Id known for several years that the carbon footprint of animal agriculture is incredibly high. But I was under the impression that we need animal protein in our diets. Then I saw the film Forks Over Knives and began reading into the topic. I learned that not only do we not need animal proteins, but that theyre actually detrimental to us in many ways.

So, comfortable we were doing the right thing not just for the environment but also for ourselves, we went fully plant-based. We explored the huge variety of vegan foods that are out there. We got recipe books and checked out new restaurants. To our surprise, it was much easier than we thought itd be.

And we loved the food. When you start eating plant-based, your whole palate opens upyour taste sensitivities change. There are countless species of plants with rich flavor profiles and aromas and nutrients. My diet is so much broader and more varied now than when I was eating a typical meat-based diet. And when we want those old comfort foods that taste like meat, there are so many good substitutes availableand more coming into the market all the time. Plus, there are great ethnic optionsvegan ravioli and Thai food, Indian food, Mexican food, noodlesthings that we all recognize and love, and that always have plant-based options.

These foods are kinder to the land and kinder to our bodies. The fact is that eating more plant-based foods is the number one thing we can do for the environmentfor habitat loss, biodiversity loss, water pollution, and so many other issues. Almost every major environmental problem could be solved by a global shift toward plant-based eating. So the right choices to make for our health are also the right choices to make for the earth.

My recommendation? Read up on the issues. Arm yourself with the facts. There are plenty of good books on the topic of plant-based eating. The more you feel good about how youre eatingthat theres a higher purpose to your dietthe more likely you are to stick with it. Program yourself for success. Try a twenty-one-day plant-based challenge. Figure out some recipes you want to make, try new foods and see what you like, find some great new restaurants to eat at. Plan your strategy a bit so youll be successful with your new dietthe fate of the planet depends on it.

James Cameron is an Academy Awardwinning director known for some of the biggest box-office hits of all time, including Titanic, The Terminator, Aliens, Avatar, and more. He is also an oceanic explorer, having been the first person to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench on a solo mission, and an environmental activist.

Almost every major environmental problem could be solved by a global shift toward plant-based eating.

JAMES CAMERON

When I was about ten years old, my father and I built a small backyard garden. In a sunny corner of our yard, we dug out a rectangle in the grass. We shoveled a trench along its edges, into which we laid bricks to create a border. We picked out stones and twigs from the dirt, breaking up the clumps with our hands until the soil was smooth and dropped easily through our fingers. We sowed seeds for green beans, carrots, radishes. From a garden center down the street, we bought seedlings for tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, carefully transplanting them into the ground.

Right around this time, I took an interest in cooking. I learned to make scrambled eggsalbeit via microwave and mug (which tasted about as good as it sounds). Id take great pride in organizing our spice cabinet, combining half-full jars of cinnamon and paprika, placing the most commonly used spices toward the front. I picked through my mothers favorite recipe clippings and pasted them into a homemade cookbook.

As my interest in food evolved, I progressed from microwaved eggs to stovetop cooking. I started inventing my own recipes. But my fascination with food mostly focused on growing, preparing, and eating it.

Then, when I was twelve, my sister returned from school one day with an announcement: she had become a vegetarian.

Mr. Thayer says there are antibiotics in chicken meat, she proclaimed. He says there are hormones and all kinds of other stuff in meat, too.

Vegetarian? It was the first time Id ever even heard the word, let alone known a vegetarian. No meat? Not even chicken? Fish? Bacon?! As any good little brother would do, I poked fun. At dinner, Id gleefully place a chunk of bloody steak on the end of my fork and stick it into my sisters face while mooing loudly.

My mother took a different approach. Alongside a pot of beef chili for us, shed have a bubbling pot of bean chili for my sistereven using separate spoons for stirring. A dish of chicken enchiladas would sit side by side in the oven with a dish of veggie enchiladas.

Because Id always loved food, I certainly wasnt averse to trying some of these mysterious new dishes. Id eat one beef taco and one bean taco; Id add bacon to a veggie burger. Slowly, my palate expanded and my culinary horizons broadened.

Lo and behold, I actually liked many of these new foods. I started ordering dishes with bean curd at our local Chinese restaurantnot realizing until much later that bean curd is another term for tofu. I tried vegetarian chicken patties and, to my amazement, loved them. Id order veggie fajitas at Mexican restaurants instead of meat fajitas. I was no vegetarian, but I liked the food.